This is the Problem

[Christian]

Then let me rephrase that to, the lack of evidence for a deity points to.

You simply cannot discard evidence for Lord Jesus Christ.
Lucian
Pliny the younger
Josephus
St. Ignatius of Antioch.
Tacitus
Suetonius
Aristides
Galenus
Lampridius

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

That non-Christians think that the Old Testament is a Christian text and true believers of Christ are somehow bound to it by letter.

OT was a Jew law and does not apply to Christ believers anymore. That does not mean we can use the good things from it and discard the rest. I believe in the 10 commandments - does not mean I have to follow the OT.

Matthew 5:17-19 (Jesus is speaking):

'Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.'

Clearly, you know bugger all about the Bible.

Boru

[The Valkyrie]

Then let me rephrase that to, the lack of evidence for a deity points to.

You simply cannot discard evidence for Lord Jesus Christ.
Lucian
Pliny the younger
Josephus
St. Ignatius of Antioch.
Tacitus
Suetonius
Aristides
Galenus
Lampridius

Let it be stated clearly. There are NO contemporary accounts of the life of, or events of, anything associated with Jesus.

None.

Nada.

The first accounts of such a person were written decades after the so-called events.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Then let me rephrase that to, the lack of evidence for a deity points to.

You simply cannot discard evidence for Lord Jesus Christ.
Lucian
Pliny the younger
Josephus
St. Ignatius of Antioch.
Tacitus
Suetonius
Aristides
Galenus
Lampridius

You seem confused about what is meant by the word 'evidence'. Even if all of these sources were contemporary with Jesus (they aren't) and verifiable as first hand accounts (ditto) and backed up by other independent sources (double ditto), they wouldn't move the least bit to prove Jesus as a divine being, merely as an historic figure (and they don't even do that).

Boru

[Christian]

Josepehus was born 3 - 5 years after Jesus was crucified so Yes I would call him a historian of Jesus time. Really if you cannot accept the 1st and second century historians accounts of Jesus then you really have no business believing that any figure of history existed. We have the 27 books in the New Testament and the 19 extra biblical accounts both friend and foe thought Jesus was real so why we should believe the 21st century atheist who says otherwise?

[The Valkyrie]

Oh well, we have the books of the Odyssey to prove that Poseidon and Zeus exist.

Hence my post about circular reasoning: the bible is true because the bible says so . . .

[Christian]

Oh well, we have the books of the Odyssey to prove that Poseidon and Zeus exist.

Hence my post about circular reasoning: the bible is true because the bible says so . . .

Those were stories, everyone knows that.

[The Valkyrie]

Oh well, we have the books of the Odyssey to prove that Poseidon and Zeus exist.

Hence my post about circular reasoning: the bible is true because the bible says so . . .

Those were stories, everyone knows that.

We've found Troy.

There's evidence of battles being fought there.

We have evidence that a number of people mentioned actually existed, particularly Agamemnon.

Since this is much of the evidence criteria Christians use to claim the veracity of the bible, then we can logically use it to verify the accuracy of the Odyssey

[Simon Moon]

You simply cannot discard evidence for Lord Jesus Christ.
Lucian

Not born until 90 years after Jesus death. All he reports is what other Christians told him.

Not evidence.

Pliny the younger

Born in 112 CE.

He writes a letter to Trajan asking how to deal with Christians. All he does is verify that there were Christians in the 2nd century. What a shock!

Josephus

3rd century forgery inserted by Eusebius.

Tacitus

Wrote in 115.

All he does is verify that Christians existed in the 2nd century.

Suetonius

'Chrestus' was a proper name. It did not mean 'Christ'.

Again, all Suetonius' writings do is verify that Christians existed in the 2nd century.

Where's that evidence you mentioned?

By the way. Even if you could prove that a historical Yeshua ben Joseph existed, that by itself does not even get close to proving he was a god that performed miracles.

[Christian]

We've found Troy.

There's evidence of battles being fought there.

We have evidence that a number of people mentioned actually existed, particularly Agamemnon.

Since this is much of the evidence criteria Christians use to claim the veracity of the bible, then we can logically use it to verify the accuracy of the Odyssey

Please don't equate myths with truth. Lord Jesus Christ is the truth.